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Uncharted 3 AI Has Been Rebuilt, It's Entirely Unscripted

The more we hear about Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, the more excited we get. The first of November seems a long way off, even though it isn't.

We turn your attention to an in-depth interview with Naughty Dog co-lead designer Richard Lemarchand at The Guardian, which consists of the subject of setting (why they went with a desert theme), hero vulnerability, and a certain "unguided" feel.

But what interested us most was the part about the new AI system. This time around, enemy activity will be unscripted, which means they'll prove even more challenging. Check it out:

"Yes, the enemy AIs have a set of rules that they wish to operate by. They have a hierarchical sets of goals – they'll analyse the terrain and make different choices each time about how to approach the player character. It took a lot of work, we had to disassemble the whole AI system – before, it was much more scripted, we'd tell the enemies explicitly, go over here, flank the player… now they have a choice."

When asked if this is a risk, in that dynamic systems can cause "emergent behaviors" with a lot of unexpected results, the answer was:

"Right, and that creates a lot of work and a lot of headaches! But then we're lucky, we have some of the best video game engineers in the world. It's sort of miraculous they've pulled it together."

You should definitely read the whole interview, as it's packed with plenty of behind-the-scenes and creative information. No matter how you look at it, the third Uncharted is going to be one hell of a ride, and I can tell you what I'll be playing in early November. Well, outside of the tons of other games that require review.

Comments (24 posts)

The more I hear about the incredible technology going into Uncharted 3, the more I salivate. What an incredible piece of work. I take my hat off to Naughty Dog... they deserve all the success and huge sales.

Considering how good the AI has been in the Killzone FPS series; seeing enemy players having this level of artificial intelligence (or better) will make this Uncharted world feel even more real, alive and dangerous.

Come'on PlayStation people, go out and buy this game on day 1... it is an event... give the dog your bones...

They already have my bone, I preordered it from New Egg for $47, no tax and no shipping.Of course I would have payed the full price, plus taxes and shipping and feel like I got a bargain for this game... there is no putting a price in Epic :)

Damn LV that was a great deal!I just checked and they have it now for $35, no shipping and as always no tax... OK just had to buy it anyway. I kept looking for so long but they always had it for the regular price... Well 35 bucks for those two amazing games ain't bad at all :)

That was a very interesting interview. I wasn't going to read it all, but I couldn't help myself. I like what they're doing with the AI. It should help keep you on your toes with the unpredictable behavior.

Ok... So *now* I am excited. They got rid of those darn scripts? Inserted some real AI instead? That is one of my main complaints about Uncharted being demolished right there!

They've also hinted about larger maps and more freedom of movement: That makes sense now that they will use AI instead of scripts - they need more room for that to work. Omg... I never expected this.This may be what was needed for me to join the hallelujah choir!

It's a great illusion. Much can be achieved with clever scripting, especially when the maps are as small as they are in Uncharted. Basically you can tie scripts to "hotspots" in the map that works like triggers. But to get into a deep, technical discussion about this is too much for this comment field. Join the forum and we can continue there. :)Last edited by Beamboom on 9/27/2011 11:58:22 AM

I guess it's great that Naughty Dog can't help but improve on pretty much anything possible, but I never thought there was anything wrong with the AI in the first two games, and that's not really something I care too much about.

As long as the story and the characters are as well developed, fun and interesting as the previous two games, and the graphics and sound can match the second, that's good enough for me!

More choices etc, hm ok fine as long as they don't make it an 'open world' type game, that would ruin a lot of what's so great about Uncharted...

I'm replaying the original Uncharted right now, and remember exactly WHY this game is so GREAT!!

Some people have complained about the graphics in the first one, but replaying it now, I still think it's one of the best-looking games on the PS3, seriously!! Check out the u-boat chapter and tell me that's not one of the greatest-looking sceneries in any game today!! It may be a little bit inconsistent in graphics quality, but even all the jungle scenes look great, and have so much detail and full of life, unlike so many other games. Yes, U2 looks even better, but don't say U1 doesn't look good, because apart from U2, there still aren't a whole lot of games out there that look better!!

Sound is also spectacular, just the fact that you can select audio settings like 'Linear PCM 5.1' or even 7.1 tells you Naughty Dog CARES about sound!! Everything sounds just right, from dialogue to plane engine noise, crashes etc, there's nothing like it!

There's even a new update since I played it last (v1.10) whatever is fixed in that one (too bad you never get any info about that when installing updates!), and I can finally get some of those trophies I didn't get the first time around...

I can't help but feel that the story and characters in U1 especially is just PERFECT, even better than the second game, so I really hope they will be able to take the best from both games in U3 and make it the best one yet.